Engraving-machine



C. C. BRUCKNER.

ENGRAVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19, l9l6.

1,371,665. Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEE I.

C- C. BRUCKNER.

ENGRAVING MACHINE- APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19. I9I6.

1,371,665. a nt d Mar- 15, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES CHARLES C. BRUCKNER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ENGRAV'ING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

Application filed August 19, 1916. Serial No. 115,909.

(all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. BRUCK- mm, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Engraving-Machines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in engraving machines, particularly suitable for jewelers use, which are intended for reproducing names and other characters or symbols, upon flat metal surfaces, and has for its objects the provision of means whereby a pattern may be accurately reproduced upon any desired metallic or other surface,

either of the same size or reduced in size, and also whereby the background upon which the desired characters are to be produced is preferably matted and shaded with arallel lines either straight or curved. any other features of the invention are described in the accompanying specification of a portion of the work table;

Fig. 7 is a vertical section along the line 77 of Fig. 2, showing the work table and the mounting therefor;

Fig. 8 is a vertical section along the line 88 of Fig. 2 showing the tracer and the make-and-break mechanism actuated thereby; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a preferred pattern suitable for use in said machine.

Referring to the drawings and the construction as designated therein by reference numerals, 1 designates the base plate and 2 the legs of the stationary frame of the machine. An engraving table 3 which is slidable upon suitable guides 4, 4. serves to receive the work to be engraved. The latter guide is provided with projecting holders 5, 5', which support a right and left adjusting screw 6 whereby the transverse movement of said table is regulated. A

pawl-support 7, having an integral horizontal sleeve 7 and a shoulder 7" is loosely mounted on one end of said screw 6, so that the outer end of said sleeve, which fits into a groove in said screw 6, abuts against the milled end 15" of said screw 6. A longitudinally slidable frame or carriage 8 is mounted on guides 8", 8', which project therethrough. Loosely mounted hangers 9, 9 that are formed with threads corresponding to the right and left threaded portions of rod 6 are adapted to be adjusted toand fro with respect to each other by rotating either of the milled heads 15', 15''. At the upper end of the support 9 is an insulated contact point 10, which is adapted to close a circuit through a battery A when a contact point 11 on an extension 12 of said table 3 contacts therewith. The holder 5 is also provided with an insulated contact point 14 that is adapted to close the circuit through said battery when the shoulder 15 of the milled head 15' of said rod 6 is in engagement therewith. The making or breaking of the current of the battery effects the elevation of an engraving tool and a tracer from the work-table and pattern, as hereinafter described.

In order to effect the longitudinal feed of the frame 8 and the work-table 3 carried thereby, I preferably provide a ratchet 16 which is adapted to be advanced by a pawl 17, the latter being pivotally secured to the pawl-support 7. A stop-rod 18, which is formed on the outer end of an adjusting screw 19, is adapted to project under said pawl and be optionally interposed between it and the ratchet teeth so that said pawl will ride up on said stop when it contacts therewith and thereby, as is apparent, said pawl may be caused to engage with one or more teeth of said ratchet, depending upon the extent of the projection of the stop 18 toward said ratchet wheel. Said ratchet is fixed on the end of a feed screw 20 operated by a hand wheel 20, which screw is journaled in the stationary frame of the machine and is threaded through the slidable frame 8.

A handle 21 provided with grips which is mourted on a shaft 22 acting through rack and pinion members, hereafter described, serves to reciprocate the table 3 in one direction and at the same time moves the guides 4, 4 integral with said rack in the opposite direction. Accordingly, when the member 5, or 5, carried by said guide 4,

abuts against the inner shoulders of either of the milled heads 15", said rod 6 will be. reciprocated either to the right or left, the direction of its movement, laterally, corresponding to that of the guides 4, 4'. The arm 7 which carries the pawl 17, will also move in consonance with the rod 6, since it is held against longitudinal movement with respect thereto, although the rod 6 is free to rotate therein. Obviously, however, the rod 6 does not always move immediately upon the movement of the guides 4, 4', but only when the members 5 or 5 carried by said guides strike either of the milled heads 15, 15", of said screw or the shoulder 7 of the arm 7 When the current is flowing through said coils of an electro-magnet 23, an engraving tool 24 will be raised out of contact with the work during the return movement of the table due to the engagement of the pinion 36 on the inner end of the shaft 22 with the rack bar 35 which latter is slidably mounted on the guides 58, 58' and is integrally united to the guides 4, 4', respectively, whereby said guides follow said rack and carry with them the members 5, 5', integral therewith i. 0., as the handle 21 is moved in a clock-wise direction, and on the other hand the tool is allowed to drop into contact with the work when the table has reached its initial position due to the fact that the contact is broken by the separation of terminals 10 and 11, thereby rendering the magnet dead and incapable of attracting said tool. The table 3'instead of being supported by several springs, or in some other well known manner, is preferably constructed as shown in Fig. 7. Such construction consists of the integral depending flange 25 and a removable terminal mar; ginal strip or lip 26. Said depending flange is provided with a boss or lug 27 to receive one end of a compressed coil spring 28 and i the other end of said spring is adapted to fit over a similar lug 29 formed on the upturnedmarginal flange 30 of the base 31, which latter is slidably guided on cross guides 4, 4' and is provided with a bottom rack 31. The said spring 28, which is positioned at the center of said table causes said marginal lip to engage with a roller 33 mounted on an arm 34 secured to the guide.

4 which forms part of a rack 35. Thereby frictional wear and tear is greatly minimized and even movement of said table occurs, in its to'and fro movement, upon the operation of the handle 21 which 'actuates said table. By changing the contour of the lip the movement of the table can be varied from a rectilinear to a curvilinear or angular movement as desired.

In order to produce a matted effect upon the background ofthe work, I provide a disk 37 having a bumper 38,which latter is adapted to periodically strike a roller on an arm 39 as it rapidly revolves beneath it, whereby it will effect the rapid hammering of the tool against the work during its progress across the same. Said tool is operated by a suitable electric motor mounted in the casing 40 as shown, and said tool is adjusted by means of clamps 41, 42, so as to permit of the movement of the frame carrying said tool along guides 8'.

A pattern 43 with a reverse raised letter or other character 68 corresponding to the ordinary printers type on its raised central portion 44 is provided on one of its marginal portions with an intaglio letter or character 45 that can be easily read by the operator. This pattern is mounted between blocks 45' adjustable on the threaded rod 45 so as to slide between two uprights 46 as shown in -Fig. 3, and the relative movement of said pattern with respect to the work onthe work-table is controlled, in a longitudinal direction, by a link or arm 47 which is adjustably secured by means of the catch 48 to the graduated lever 49, which latter is in turn fulcrumed at 50 to the base-plate of the machine. A connecting rod 51 connects the aforesaid lever 49 to the frame 8. Obviously when the connecting arm or link 47 is at the outermost position of said lever 49, the pattern will move much faster than said work, and accordingly the length of the letters reproduced upon the work will be much less than that of the letters of the pattern. Similarly when the arm or link 47 is at the innermost graduation on said lever 49, the length of the letters or characters repro duced upon said work will more closely correspond to that of the letters or characters upon the pattern. The width of the engraving upon the work is also controlled in a similar manner by means of the links 52 and 53 which connect the guide rack 35 to a lever 54 that is in turn connected to the carriage carrying the tracer 56. I The fulcrum of said lever 54 is adjustable through a clamp 57 which serves to fix said fulcrum at any desired point along the guides 58, 58, which are provided with suitable graduations 59. Said guides 58, 58, are supported in sleeves 59' 59" on the end of the rack 35 and as a'consequence the tracer 56 will be moved in an opposite direction to themovement of the table and thus correspond to the relative direction of movement of the engraving'tool with respect to said table 3. As is evident, when the catch is at the outermost ends of said guides 58, 58. the length of the engraving upon the work will be much less than the length of the letters of the pattern. and vice versa.

The tracer is secured to a suitable holder 60 which latter consists of an angular arm that is mounted on pivotal centers. which latter are fixedly secured to a carriage 61.

'inch, for example 1/100 of an inch, below the highest part of said pattern. or in other words below the top of the letter 68.

The carriage 61 is pivotally secured at 69 to a sleeve 70 which is loosely mounted on the rod 71. The latter rod is pivotally connected with a bar 72 that is supported in collars 73 from the movable frame 8 of the machine. A leaf spring 7 1 normally holds the rod 71 depressed, whereby the carriage 61 is normally held with its guide roller 66 resting on the rear face 67 of the pattern. An electro-magnet 75 is arranged in the same circuit with the battery Av and the contacts 10 and 11 and 14 and 15, so that as the circuit which controls the electro-magnet 75 is closed, due to the engagement of the contact point 14 and shoulder 15 when the table 3 reaches the limit of its movement to the right, 7'. e., in a direction toward the tracer carriage 61, said electro-magnet will be energized and thereby will be caused to attract the armature 76 on the carriage 61 and thus raise said carriage so that its roller 66 no longer rests on the face 67, thereby raising the tracer 56 out of. contact with any portion of the pattern.

The control of the movements of the engraving tool so that they shall be in consonance with those of the tracer as it passes along the pattern. is effected, as is apparent, by means of the electro-magnet 23 which is rendered active by the contact of the pul sator arm 62 with the contacts 63, 63. When the work desired is intaglio, the switch 64 is thrown to the left as shown in Fig. 8 so that the pulsator which normally contacts. as stated, with the contact point 63, will close the circuit through the battery A, even when the trace lies below the upper level of the letter 68 on said pattern. Asthe tracer jumps up onto the upper level of the said letter 68, the pulsator will break the circuit and immediately the electro'magnet 23 will be rendered dead, thereby dropping the engraving tool, (which is either constantly rotated by an electric motor in a separate circuit, or stationary, as desired), into contact with the work until the trace-r has passed across the elevated portion of the pattern.

viously be again closed and the electro-magnet 23 will raise the tool from the work. Similarly when an embossed letter is to be reproduced on the work, the same pattern can be used, but in that case the switch 61 is moved so as to contact with the contact point 63 and thereby the engraving tool will be dropped into contact with the work,

except as the tracer passes over the high points of the letter 68 of said pattern, when said engraving tool will be elevated off the work, thus producing an embossed letter or symbol on the work corresponding to the embossed letter 68 of-the pattern.

Mounted upon said table is a work-chuck 77 which is provided with a plurality of irregularly disposed apertures 78 adapted to receive pins for retaining the work in position during the engraving thereof. Said chuck consists of two symmetrical parts 80, '80, which are adjustable toward and from each other by means of a thumb-screw 81. whereby after the work is placed between the pins positioned in said apertures the aforesaid parts of said chuck can be contracted so as to cause said pins to bear against the perimeter of said work and securely hold the same in position.

As is apparent from the foregoing. when the table 3 moves to the right the uninsulated contact-point 11 (part of the ground) will finally engage insulated contact 10, thereby closing the circuit through the battery A. The pressure of point 11 on contact lOof arm 9, after the closing of the circuit, will ultimately carry rod 6 to the right sufficiently to cause pawl 17 to engage the desired number of teeth on ratchet 16 and thereby the frame 8 will be moved longitudinally the requisite amount for the new cut, but only after the engraving tool has been raised out of contact with the work on the table, since, as stated, the circuit through magnet 23 will be closed.

The anti-clockwise rotation of the handle 21, on the other hand, will cause the movement of the table 3 to the left and the rack 35 to the right. Consequently the point 11' will abut against the point 10' (see Fig. 1) on arm 9' and force rod 6 to move to the left until the uninsulated shoulder 15 (also part of the ground) engages the insulated contact-point 14, thereby again closing the circuit through battery A which had been broken upon the separation of contacts 10 and 11 when the table 3 moved initially to the left. As stated, the engraving tool will drop into working engagement with the work each time the current through magnet 23 is interrupted, and vice versa. Similarly. it is evident that when the contact-points 10 and 11 or 14 and 15 are in" engagement, the current from battery A will be short-circuited and no current will flow to magnet 7 5, or, in other words. when magnet 23 is energized magnet will be dead.

Preferably the tracer is provided with a sapphire or diamond point and the pattern is of so-called celluloid composition, being preferably a mixture of two parts of celluloid chips and one part of dental cement.

As is apparent from. the drawings, the right end of the sleeve 7'. abuts against a shoulder on the left endof the screw ortion of the screw 6, so that the sleeve is incapable of movement longitudinally of the screw 6.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In an engraving machine, the combination of a frame, an engraving table supported thereon and arranged to move laterally and longitudinally with respect thereto, an adjustable ratchet-feed mechanism adapted to be actuated upon the lateral movement of the table whereby step by step longitudinal feed of said table is effected in consonance with each lateral reciprocation thereof, an engraving tool adapted to drop by gravityvinto contact with the work to be engraved and to be automatically elevated out of contact with such work, an electromagnet adapted to elevate said tool out of contact with the work when the circuit is closed therethrough, a tracer, a roller to support. said tracer upon a attern, a carriage, a tracer-holder carried by said rearriage including an angular arm mounted on pivotal centers that are fixedly secured to said carriage, means for securing said carriage to the movable frame of the machine including collars carried by said machine, a bar supported thereon, a rod pivotally connected to said bar and a sleeve, pivotally connected to said carriage, carried by K said rod, and means for making and breaking the circuit of said electro-magnet in synchronism with the movement of the tracer including a pulsator arm integral with said holder, contact points in the circuit of the machine in proximity to said pulsator arm and oppositely disposed with respect thereto, a switch adapted to optionally open or close the circuit through either contact point and.

means for normally maintaining said pulsator in contact with one of said contact points.

Signed'at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 17th day of August, 1916.

CHARLES C. BRUCKNER. 

